There is something magical and even romantic in the thought of a new beginning. Few of us are so completely pleased with, or proud of, all we have accomplished in the past that we would not look upon a new beginning with ardent anticipation and delight. The poet Alexander Pope said it long ago when he observed,

Well did the poet understand the nature of most humans who are always expecting their life to become blessed - but it so rarely is. The poet in his wisdom did not attempt to explain the reasons for this lack of blessing.

Perhaps one of the main reasons why man is seldom blessed is that he does not deserve such blessing. Such an explanation, though not likely to be popular, is certainly plausible and viable. Saint Paul wrote in Galatians 6:7, "Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap." If this be true , and who among us has authority to deny it, then it seems possible that our so-called blessings, and curses, are but the consequences of our own past thoughts and actions. If the results are not what we desire, the fault may lie, as Cassius said to Mark Antony in Shakespeare's play, The Tragedy of Julius Caesar," ...not so much in our stars, but in ourselves."

Most men can accept almost every concept with equanimity except the truly unthinkable one - that they and they alone are responsible for the problems that beset them. This thought seems to be mankind's ultimate terror. Nothing else is so feared. Nothing else is do despised. Once we accept our circumstances as our rightful due, we stand naked before all men. All they have to do is to examine our life and know, not only what we think now, but how we have thought and acted in the past.

What a dreadful consideration! Yet is it not true? Are we not judged, by all, for what we have thought and how we have acted in the past? Do we really deceive anyone other than ourselves when we are eager to blame someone or something else for our difficulties?

Hard-earned experience has brought many to conclude that one of the surest marks of a loser is his readiness to blame others for his personal troubles. As long as this view persists, it is almost impossible for a person to learn from his past mistakes.

The winner, on the other hand, is not only wiling to acknowledge his own mistakes but is frequently willing to take full responsibility for those that may be only partially his fault. Such an attitude builds strength through humility, power through respect, and success through love.

The Chinese have a proverb, "Think again and again of important affairs, but the most important thing is to not deceive yourself." The propensity to deceive ourselves is one of the most common as well as one of the most devastating weaknesses we can possess. This act of self-deception places blenders over our eyes that prevent us from seeing or acting on our own folly. Our friends are usually reluctant to broach the matter for fear of losing our friendship. Our enemies would be pleased to show us what we really are, but few of us would willingly listen to the opinions of such adversaries. Only occasionally do we meet a man who is willing to follow the advice of Benjamin Franklin: "Love your enemies; they tell you your faults."

Luck or Law?

Why should man never be blessed? Because he does not understand and apply the underlying Laws of his being. He constantly hopes for something that is not likely to happen. It is this false hope that "springs eternal in the human breast." It is a false hope because it is predicated on something men call luck.

Luck is defined in The Random House Dictionary of the English Language as "That force which seems to act for good or ill in a person's life." The important word in this definition is seems. Luck is a phantom. There is no such thing as it is usually considered. When we think of luck, we think of capriciousness, that is, actions that follow no orderly pattern. This cannot be. If there were such disorder in the Universe, even for a fraction of an instant, it would rapidly bring about the destruction of all order, and all we see and know world revert to chaos. One of the inescapable facts of life is that the Universe must be either in perfect order or in utter chaos. Nothing in between these two extremes is sufficiently stable to endure.

Our top physicists tell us that , while the Universe is made up of an infinite number of ions, these particles are composed of exactly one-half positive ions and one-half negative ions. One might ask these worthy men how they know this to be true. After all, it is impossible to count the ions, their number being beyond any power we have to compute, much less count. How, then, can they really ascertain that somewhere in some far-off galaxy there are not a few spare positive or negative ions lurking around that they do not know about?

Their answer is succinct and convincing. "If such renegade ions did exist,' they all say, "they would immediately set up a chain reaction which would bring the entire Universe to total collapse in a few brief moments." Thus, they say, as do we, that existence, as we know it, must be either in perfect order or in complete chaos, there being no middle ground. When we see the order of the Heavens and the Earth all around us - except for man's actions, of course - we can reach no plausible conclusion other than that we do live in an orderly Universe and that by definition there can be no such thing as luck - what is called luck, as such, being only the reaping of our own past sowing, be this good or ill.

The Law of the Talents

If there is no such thing as luck, then where may we find information on the Laws of our being? Are we a piece of biological machinery without a set of instructions?

Every civilized nation has been taught the Law. Few, unfortunately, have taken it to heart. One of the most important Laws governing human endeavor is addressed in the biblical Parable of the Talents. Although this story is known to most Christians, there seems to be too much dispute as to its significance and meaning. Perhaps this is because its moral seems to us today to be somewhat unsympathetic and not in keeping with commonly held views of worthy human conduct. This passage has both a temporal and a spiritual interpretation, both of which need to be examined before a final appraisal can be made. Is it not possible that our standards of worthiness may not always be the same as God's? According to the parable:

"And unto one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one; to every man according to his several ability; and straightway took his journey.

"Then he that had received the five talents went and traded with the same, and made them other five talents.

"And likewise he that had received two, he also gained other two.

"But he that had received one went and digged in the earth, and hid his lord's money.

"After a long time the lord of those servants cometh, and reckoneth with them.

"And so he that had received five talents came and brought other five talents, saying, Lord, thou deliveredst unto me five talents: behold, I have gained beside them five talents more.

"His lord said unto him. Well done, thou good and faithful servant; thou has be faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of the lord.

"He also that had received two talents came and said Lord, thou deliveredst unto me two talents: behold, I have gained two other talents beside them.

"His lord said unto him, Well done, good and faithful servant; thou has been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord.

"Then he which had received the one talent came and said, Lord, I knew thee that thou art an hard man, reaping where thou hast not sown, and gathering where thou hast not strawed:

"And I was afraid, and went and hid thy talent in the earth: lo, there thou hast that is thine.

"His lord answered and said unto him, Thou wicked and slothful servant, thou knewest that I reap where I sowed not, and gather where I have not strawed:

"Thou oughtest therefor to have put my money to the exchangers, and them at my coming I should have received mine own with usury.

"Take therefore the talent from him, and give it unto him which hath ten talents.

"For unto every one that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance: but from him that hath not shall be taken away even that which he hath. __Matthew 25: 15-29

On the material level, this parable seems to be entirely unfair. However, on the Spiritual level, the parable does make sense. We each came into this world with a diversity of abilities and talents - some with many and some with only a few. But, our final judgment will not be based so much on the absolute accomplishments we make in this incarnation as on what we are able to create and accomplish with the abilities we possess. The servant who was given two talents, which he doubled, was commended equally with the one who had doubled his five.

The only servant who was condemned, and that rather severely, was he who did not make an increase in his talents, but, rather, hid them. Thus, we are left with the inevitable conclusion that, above all else, God wants us to put to good use all the abilities and talents we possess. He realizes that some individuals have, in past incarnations, developed many more qualities than others, but as long as each of us does our best to constantly increase what we now possess, all will be well.

As we rationally consider this parable, one conclusion seems almost compulsory. The Law of Life is the Law of Productivity. We are God's co-creators. We fulfill His Law when we put forth effort to create good as He did. When we refuse to make the necessary effort to use our talents to create good, even though our ability is small, we can look forward to having even these small talents taken from us. "And the last state of that man is worse than the first."___Matthew 12:45

Perhaps the homely saying, "Use it, or lose it," is even more to the point. We came to Earth to work. And only in such work is luck to be found. Only by doing good, not as men se it, but as God sees it, can we find a real new beginning .Only by accepting the events of life in our present situation - no matter how difficult - as our due, blaming no other person, can we begin to direct our life towards true success and advancement.

The Parable of the Talents informs us clearly how God looks upon our efforts. He does not accept excuses. He (through the action of the Divine Law) rewards only the results of intelligent, dedicated action. There is certainly every reason to believe that He wants us to be productive and creative. In this parable productive creativity alone is acknowledged as good and is rewarded.

The Wise and the Unwise

"All I want is what I've got coming to me" How many times have you heard this statement? How many times have you said it yourself? Once we begin to understand the Laws of our nature, we can see that nothing else is possible. The wise man knows that he will always receive exactly what he has coming to him. No more, no less. The Law is meticulous in all things and the prudent, knowing this to be true, act accordingly

When adversity occurs in the life of a wise man, he never looks for someone or something outside himself to blame. He, rather, looks inside himself to see what he has done to bring about this setback. Next, he looks beyond the present difficulty to see what action he can take, now, to prevent a similar problem in the future. And, if he is surpassing wise, he will analyze the immediate event to see how he can turn this seeming failure into a smashing victory. This is the thinking of the winner. It is the thinking of one of God's co-workers. It is the active use of the principles given in the Parable of the Talents. It is what separates the blessed from the unblessed, the lucky from the unlucky, and the winners from the losers.

The unwise man, on the other hand, always has a ready reason why his lack of success is someone else's fault. He expects to be blessed, not only without the requisite effort on his part, but, usually, at the expense of another. And so it must be if he is to be blessed. Blessings are like monies. In order to give blessings to someone who has not earned them, you must, first, take from someone who has earned them. Once this is done a great indebtedness is created which will eventually be called to balance, frequently, when those involved can least afford it.

Many of the unwise, when confronted with disappointments, are eager to blame their parents, society, and even God for their bad luck. Such an attitude, of course, only draws them deeper into a quagmire of their own making. Finally, when according to the Law of the Parable of the Talents, the little they have left is taken from them and given to those who already have abundance, they let out a bitter scream, but there are few who hear and even fewer who respond. They are sure there is no justice. Unfortunately, for them, it is God's justice that has prevailed.

Some individuals use the concept of unworthiness as an excuse for not making a new beginning. "I'm unworthy to receive good things," they think to themselves. On the surface this excuse seems to be the opposite of the-world-owes-me-a-living concept, but in the final analysis both concepts produce the same effect - stagnation and unproductiveness. Such a negative feeling of unworthiness is common to the habitual loser. Any individual who allows these concepts to pollute hi mentality will fail before he even begins. He has programmed into himself a form of self-pity that is as malignant emotionally and spiritually as any cancer is to the physical body.

Only one thing determines worthiness - and that is action. "He that doeth the works of the Father, becomes like onto the Father." All wise co-creators know that it takes less time to do a task correctly than to explain to yourself and others why it cannot be done. Every man has the same number of hours in a day. Winners make use of them; losers usually sit around bemoaning the fact that there are not more and so waste those they have been allotted.

The Magic Word: TRY

All that is required to start a new beginning is to TRY. This is the magic word. In the essay about Goethe in this book (Chapter Twenty-four, "How to Make Good Things Happen in Your Life") the effect of commitment is described. We recommend that all who are contemplating a new beginning study that chapter.

The real wonder of trying is that it produces what may be called, in the terms of modern management consultants, a win/win situation. The extraordinary thing about doing something is that you must gain from the experience, whether you win or lose. If your efforts are crowned with success, you increase your abilities and skills to meet the next challenge. If, on the other hand, you fail in your efforts, you still can learn many valuable lessons which will allow you to correct the mistakes so that you are prepared to go ahead to greater successes in the future. Even a winner does not win all the time, but he is ever eager to learn from each failure and never blames other for the apparent loss.

Nothing in this life is perfect. The Forces of Good understand this well and never ask us to do more than our best. But this best is required of each person who would be a co-worker with God. We are judged not so much by the degree of our perfection as by the efforts we put forth to advance God's work as we see it. As with the accursed servant who buried his talent, the greatest sin of all is to do NOTHING.
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